The peacefulness in photographing an apartment community in Albuquerque
I actually find photographing an apartment community one of the most relaxing types of photography I do. Why is that? Because most of the time I am given access to a space, then left alone to make the photos I need. Such was the case when I photographed Stride West in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The leasing office area and lobby was largely empty when I was there, the gym totally empty, same for the pool, and of course the model unit was just me and the furniture. In this way I made my way around the apartment community grounds (with a lift from the staff on a golf cart) getting the 75 photos I needed to per client guidelines. I did start out getting aerial drone photos because the skies were pretty good, and it is my policy to get all exterior shots when I arrive because you never know when the weather will change. Sure enough, by the end of the shoot things would have been too cloudy. Thank you to the team at Stride West for getting everything prepped for the photo shoot.
Lightning in Commercial Hotel Photography Albuquerque
Almost one month to the day I returned to the San Mateo Inn for more commercial exterior photography, this time at night! My first shoot was all during the day with clear blue skies overhead. For this second shoot right after sunset, the clouds were rolling in and a storm was approaching. I was working as fast as I could with my new Sony a7R IV mirrorless camera. In fact this was the very first shoot I used it for! I could hear the thunder and see the lightning, and in a happy accident, during one long exposure photo of the front of the hotel, I caught a sharp bolt of lightning! I got the remaining photos I needed of the pool and front sign, and was back home safe and dry before the actual rain started. Thank you to the owner, Yvette, for braving the storm with me and watching my back as we were very close to the road to get some of these shots.
Thanks to a great referral from networking friend Coralee (she sells commercial real estate), I had the opportunity to photograph the San Mateo Inn which is under new management and in the process of improving its branding and marketing, the first step was getting professional commercial photographs of the interior and exterior of the hotel. It is my custom whenever possible to start with the exteriors, because you never know when the weather may change, so if it is good, then shoot the exteriors first! After that I made my way inside to photograph the lobby and guest areas.
Using the sunset for commercial photography in ABQ
On a warm weekday evening in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I took my camera and tripod to The View ABQ apartment complex to make sunset HDR real estate photos, as well interior photos. This place certainly lives up to its name and with dramatic clouds and a bright sunset, I was given ample material to photograph and deliver to the client!
I often hit Invert in Photoshop by accident because the command for resizing is close to it and as I often work very quickly in Photoshop, sometimes a very crazy looking image flashes on my screen. However, this also means happy accidents happen too.
I was editing this ordinary pool photo from a real estate shoot and as I was finishing it and preparing it for web size, I went to hith CMD-SHIFT-I but missed the SHIFT part and instead only hit CMD-I resulting in the below inverted color version.
Looks much cooler, right? So if you are needing something to spice up a photo, try hitting CMD-I in Photoshop next time and you may be pleasantly surprised!
Photographing the same subject matter in different seasons or just a significant amount of time later is a very good personal photography project to do. It is rare to have that kind of opportunity with a commercial photography shoot, but that is just what happened when former clients TownePlace Suites Marriott Clearwater called and asked me to come make a new photograph of their outdoor swimming pool. They had updated the furniture and needed a new photograph to highlight the changes to the pool area.
For me it is interesting to see the differences in angles I chose in 2011 and 2012. The tighter shot of the pool in 2012 was no doubt influenced by the client wanting to see the new furniture in the shot better.
Here is an insider photo tip for shooting pools: do not get the entire pool in the shot, thereby leaving the exact size of the pool unknown to the viewer.
Shore Acres Pool Home HDR Real Estate Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseNot every real estate photography assignment in Florida is for a multi-million dollar water view home. There are plenty of other moderately priced homes on the market that need photographs made of them too, which is why I offer flexible rates for my commercial real estate photography services. The home featured in this blog post is in Shore Acres area of St. Petersburg. If you like it, the listing will be with Crown Realty Group. Tell Haike I sent you.
A new backsplash brightens things in this Shore Acres home - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/2 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseI do not normally include HDR images when photographing a job in this price range, but for the lead pool shot I did as a bonus as it just looked night and day different. All the interiors were single exposures, like this one of the remodeled kitchen. I usually shoot at below eye level for interiors, but for kitchens I prefer to shoot from at or above eye level to show all the counter level features.
Huge flatscreen TV mounted in this Shore Acres living room - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseWhen doing single exposure interiors, as you can see I keep window blinds closed and pointed up whenever possible. I close them pointed up so that no bright spots are cast onto the interior itself, but rather bounced off the ceiling making the light from them useful. I had the client move a large armchair from where I was standing so I could better photograph the living room.
Home office full of CDs in Shore Acres Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseFor small home interior rooms, I choose to shoot in portrait orientation from the door way. This creates the largest sense of space since floor to ceiling can be seen. I photograph bathrooms the same way since they often are not large enough to even enter and photograph, especially with a tripod.
This pool home for sale in Shore Acres St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/50th tripod mounted with cable releaseFor the exterior shot, I try to include as little of the neighboring properties as possible, even if it means making a tighter shot like the one above. I lowered my tripod enough so that the large live oak in the front yard framed the home rather than obscured the view of it.
